Qualifying
Report:
The session got underway on time - almost. Given the torrential
rain that had plagued the LMES session in the morning, to
say nothing of the number of broken cars that had to be dragged
back from the Classic Endurance Racing Series session, five
minutes was the least we could expect. James Walker (Fortec
Motorsport) and his team-mate Ronayne O'Mahony were first
out, but they were soon joined by the other 24 runners. There
was a general rush to get out while the track wasn't too bad.
It had, after all, eased off to a downpour. Everyone was lapping
around the three minute mark, so clearly they'd be lucky to
get much more than 10 or 11 laps before the end of the session.
The main question was, would be get through without any stoppages.
Unfortunately, with less than five minutes completed, the
red flags had to come out after O'Mahony crashed out and ended
up in a concrete wall, while following Walker round in an
attempt to improve on Friday's results. While he was causing
excitement, Steven Kane (Promatecme F3) was attempting to
cheer everyone at Lola up after the disaster that was Friday.
He was on provisional pole from Bruno Senna (Double R Racing),
while National Class provisional pole went to Josh Fisher
(Team SWR), in 3rd overall. Senna's team-mate, Daniel Clarke
was 4th, ahead of James Walker (Fortec Motorsport), and then
a whole gaggle of drivers appeared, bottled up behind the
Extraction vehicle. It seems that the organisers are a little
over-keen in their efforts to keep the timetable on track.
Everyone returned to the pits, and sat and waited. The rest
of field sorted themselves out from 6th place downwards with
Salvador Duran (P1 Motorsport), next, ahead of Suk Sandher
(Performance Racing), Charlie Hollings (Promatecme F3), Marko
Asmer (Hitech Racing), Stephen Jelley (Menu Motorsport), O'Mahony,
Jonathan Kennard (Alan Docking Racing), Tim Bridgman (Hitech
Racing), Barton Mawer (T-Sport) and Keiko Ihara (Carlin Motorsport).
Alvaro Parente (Carlin Motorsport), Christian Bakkerud (Carlin),
Charlie Kimball (Carlin Motorsport) and Ryan Lewis (T-Sport)
had yet to set times. It would probably lead to interesting
times when they restarted.
It did. With the rain easing off to a downpour, everyone knew
that times would come down, if not steadily, then at least
in increments by the time the session ended. It might just
be a case of how late you passed the chequered flag. Bridgman
got the ball rolling, only to be joined by Kimball on the
top of the times. Conway promptly felt the need to join them,
while Asmer started to push, claiming a place on the second
row. Dirani seemed to be running better than he had yesterday,
perhaps egged on by Kane's example. Whatever the case, he
was now fifth, while Friday's pole man, Parente, was down
in 14th. He was, however, on his first flying lap. In the
National Class, Hollings was getting on top of things, and
had outpaced Sandher, while last year's National Class champion,
Lewis, was leapfrogging up the order to get ahead of everyone.
He was joined by the youngest driver ever to compete in British
F3, Herck, who was now second. It was a long way from being
over though. Kimball was very keen to try and prove his ability,
and he was next to set the fastest time. Walker was next to
improve, for 2nd, but he didn't keep it, because Senna hit
the front row now. Parente, meanwhile, was steadily getting
faster, though he was still only 5th right now.

The
National Class battle was still raging too, with Fisher now
on top again, and Annala just behind him. Needless to say,
that wouldn't last either. However, the track was still speeding
up, presumably as a damp line appeared, although apparently
the higher parts were still very slippery, the temperature
in the low single figures up there. It was proving very difficult,
and some drivers adapted better than others. Lewis hated it,
moaning about the oil and dirt and general slipperiness, while
Kimball, a graduate of Formula Ford, loved every minute of
it. It didn't seem to affect their performance one way or
another, but there were others (like Jelley) who really didn't
seem at all happy out there.
Despite his complaints, Lewis dug deep and found a time, hitting
pole by setting a lap time that was over three seconds faster
than anyone else. Herck managed to claw back a second, but
he was still 2.163 seconds behind Lewis. Bridgman was next
to challenge, but could only manage 2nd, before Kimball snatched
pole back. With the whole field going round in a clump, there
were long periods of inactivity before they all came back,
but when they did Senna claimed 4th, while Fisher was again
in possession of National Class pole and was fifth overall.
He moved rapidly down the order as the rest of the field hurled
themselves across the start/finish line, and Asmer climbed
up to 4th. On a 4 and a bit mile circuit, you had to wonder
why they insisted on going round in a clump, but no one apart
from Lewis seemed keen to be out there alone. Perhaps they
get scared on their own
It began to look as if Lewis was doing the right thing too,
when he reclaimed pole position, while Herck shot back to
third. This time Lewis's advantage was less than a second.
The improvements briefly dried up when Mawer ran into trouble
again, hitting the wall again and doing a lot of damage to
the front end of the car. The Australian's budget was already
strained, and two crashes in one weekend will have done it
no good at all. Once the yellow flags were withdrawn it was
all systems go again. Parente was now ready to go, and duly
grabbed pole, only to be replaced by Clarke. Kimball was still
circulating very rapidly, and the American shot back up the
order to 4th, just behind Lewis. A lap later Lewis had once
again claimed pole, but Kimball didn't let him keep it for
very long. As the track conditions improved, the American
was flying. Admittedly, he wasn't the only one. Bridgman was
again showing pace, while Senna moved up to 5th behind Parente.
The order was now Kimball, Lewis and Clarke, but they weren't
done scrapping yet.
Lewis improved again, but it wasn't quite enough, while Kane
was suddenly back among the leaders, setting a time that would
have been good enough for 3rd. Kimball took up the challenge,
and upped the pace once more. For a moment there it was an
all Carlin front row as Parente claimed the second slot, with
Lewis in 3rd, almost a second slower. Kane again improved
his time though he was now 5th, the damp line developing further
as the session wore on. The National Class was a long way
from decided too, Fisher again trying to take control. It
was beginning to seem as if anything could happen before the
flag finally fell.
The changes were coming thick and fast now, with Bridgman
leapfrogging back to 4th, only to get pushed down a place
when Conway clambered into 3rd. Lewis was now 4th, with Parente
trying to take pole back with a time that was ¾ of
a second faster than anyone else. Even that wasn't the end
of it though. Asmer improved to 3rd, while Herck was 4th,
before Kane demoted both of them. The National Class order
was now Fisher, from Hollings and Duran. Kimball yo-yoed back
to pole, while the next lap saw Conway shoot back to 3rd,
only to have Asmer take it off him. It was getting difficult
to keep track, especially when Senna joined in. With 1 minute
left to run it looked like there might be a major surprise
in store. He couldn't keep it though, although Parente could
only slot in next to him. Conway dropped to 4th, with Lewis
alongside him as the chequered flag came out. Of course it
would be another two and a half minutes before it was definitively
over. Everyone waited to see what would happen as the remaining
drivers crossed the finish line. What happened was that Kimball
almost immediately reclaimed pole, and then had to watch in
disbelief as Lewis took it away from him. No doubt Lewis was
equally incredulous when Kane, at the very last moment, topped
the times, pipping the T-Sport driver at the post by 0.005
seconds. The order, then, was Kane from Lewis, Kimball, Senna,
Asmer, Parente, Clarke, Conway, Dirani and Bridgman. 11th,
and on National Class pole, was Hollings, from Invitation
Class (and only entry) pole man, Herck. 13th was Fisher, from
Walker and Duran, who managed a last minute improvement too,
but who was less than happy with his own performance. 16th
was Bakkerud, from Sandher, Annala, Kennard and Jelley. In
21st was Ihara, ahead of Cheong, the embattled Mawer and Teixeira.
Jones and O'Mahony failed to set times within the qualifying
minima, but will be allowed to start from the back, provided
they stay out of trouble and don't inconvenience anyone (if
they do, they can expect to be black-flagged).